Learn about this topic in these articles:

tuatara

are recognized, Sphenodon guntheri and S. punctatus. These two species, and possibly other now-extinct species, inhabited the main islands before the arrival of the Maori people and the kiore—the Polynesian rat (Rattus exulans). S. guntheri lives on a few islets in the western Cook Strait, and S. punctatus inhabits the…